Queen Guitarist Brian May has tested positive for Covid earlier this week, and he’s sharing his experience with the virus with fans.
Videos by American Songwriter
May took to Instagram to break the news alongside an image of his positive test.
“Yep. The shocking day finally came for me,” he wrote in the post. “The dreaded double red line. And yes – definitely NO sympathy please – it has been a truly horrible few days, but I’m OK. And I will tell the tale. PLEASE take extra care out there, good folks. This thing is incredibly transmissible. You really do NOT want it messing up YOUR Christmas. With love – Bri.”
A day after revealing he tested positive, May updated fans on his condition and was thankful for the vaccination.
“Day 7 – and it seems to me the Covid positive red line is less strong today. So I’m feeling that my immune system, with the enormous help of three Pfizer jabs, is now winning the battle against the invader. So do NOT be afraid – there IS life after Covid! But DO be careful … you do not want this, and neither do (sic) your family. Thanks for all your great messages – in spite of my pleas for no sympathy! Much appreciated. And yes … I did promise to tell you the story ! Bri.”
Next, May shared a two-part video about his story with COVID. The first video shows May jamming on the guitar for the intro. He says, “I just wanted to show you that you can still play guitar after Covid. Probably helps if you could play guitar before.”
He then begins his story. “I just wanted to talk to you folks about all this as I said I would,” May says in the video. “Well we’ve been incredibly careful, Anita and myself, bringing in food and really not going anywhere. Being very homed-like in a way for that past 20 months or so. And then last Saturday we decided we would go to a birthday lunch. And we thought, ‘This is the last social function that we’ll go to.’ Not that we go to many anyway. ‘We’ll chance it. Everyboyd’s triple jabbed. Everybodys going to be with one of these things which says your negative on the morning.’ So it seemed to be set up very safely, but of course, yeah you kind of know your taking a risk”
He continues in a second video. “So we all went to the party,” he said. In retrospect perhaps we made the wrong decision. We couldn’ve seen them another time. But that’s history now. I’d just like you to know, yes, it seemed like a safe situation, you have your negative tests and you have your triple jab. So what could possibly go wrong? We thought we were in a safe bubble, so we didn’t wear masks. Not so.
“The new variant seems to be so incredibly transmissible. I’m not even sure how to be safe. This thing is spreading at an alarming rate.”
May then told fans what he was going through with the symptoms following the party. And after feeling slightly ill on Monday, and testing negative for days, May found out eight people from the party had tested positive. Then May and his wife, Anita, tested again and they both got a positive test, four days after the event.
May begs fans to go and get jabbed if you are not already. “Because you need the help.”
“I despair seeing these people protesting against the vaccine, protesting against their rights being violated because they might have to wear a mask. Jesus Christ guys, our parents fought through wars and had their civil rights knocked away. All anyone is asking is for you to play your part to try and unite against this invader, and it’s a nasty thing and it isn’t finished yet.”
Check out May’s video, sharing his story below.
Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen
